This week the PGA Tour will tee it up at the 57th FedEx St. Jude Classic, held at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee (a course we provide retrieval service for). Always a draw for strong players, the FedEx St. Jude Classic debuted in 1958 as the Memphis Open. In 1969, Danny Thomas agreed to

There are many talented golfers out there. Some take lessons for years and years, others just have that natural talent. An extremely talented Jack Nicklaus got a speedy start to his golf game shooting a 51 the first time he ever played nine holes. He survived polio at 13 and the only handicap he came away with was a +3 on the golf course. At just 15, five years after picking up his first club, he shot a 66 at Scioto Country Club. A short three years later, at 18, this young man brought his natural, but now masterfully refined, ability to the PGA Tour. Nobody knew at the time that he was also bringing with him the moniker of his Upper Arlington High School mascot: The Golden Bears.

We’ve always believed at Lost Golf Balls that starting every hole with a new ball is nonsensical, not to mention expensive. We’ve been passionately using our recycled golf balls for years (here’s a link to some of our personal favorites) and never noticed a difference between the recycled and new. However, not everyone believes this, so we wanted empirical data to back it up. We put them to the test. We sent some of our best-selling golf balls to an independent testing facility to have them compared to brand new ones.

How do we do this, you ask? Easy. We kidnap PGA professionals from golf courses around the country and force them to sort, inspect, and hand-shine each and every golf ball.

Nike began its foray into golf in 1984 with a business plan, a couple promotional shirts, and a football cleat converted into a golf shoe. A little over a decade later, a young phenom would catapult their meager presence in the golfing world into one of enormous power and influence.

Sometimes even a great putt can end in a splash. At the 1982 Players Championship, Jerry Pate’s did just that. In fact, it resulted in three of them. After sinking his tournament-winning putt, he marked his victory by sinking PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman and course architect Pete Dye into the water near the 18th green before jumping in himself. It is one of golf’s most iconic celebrations.

"I was kind of in awe of everything, after seeing it [The Masters] on TV and having always heard about it. Everyone says ‘we can’t explain to you, you just have to go look at it’. You walk in and are just in a daze, surprised that you are there.” As the dawn broke in Augusta at The Masters on Sunday, Chris Osmun of Davenport, Iowa arrived at Magnolia Lane with his longtime friend, Mike. Back in February, Chris had seen his buddy ‘like’ the LostGolfBalls.com Masters Sweepstakes and figured “why not?”. He clicked the ‘like’ button, filled out the form. A month later he was selected as our winner. Before one enters golf’s most serene and magnificent place, they first must encounter numerous security checks. “Of course, no cell phones or cameras allowed. It’s like going to the airport. Dogs out front, then you go through the line to empty out your pockets and all that gets run through the x-ray machine as you proceed to get wanded.” Once through, you are officially a patron of The Masters! By 7:30am, Chris was inside the merchandise tent with surprisingly no line. Not knowing if he would ever be able to make it back, he grabbed a hat, a towel, a Flag Pin, a couple of Masters Caddy Teddy Bears for his kids, and a Masters Chair, which comes in handy after a long day on the course. He was told the night before, by a couple he met, that he should purchase chairs first and then head straight to where he wanted to end up and set the chairs there. Everyone writes their name on the back of their chair, leaves it there with all of their stuff and nobody messes with it. It’s like that throughout the course. If you see empty chairs, they are available until the seat holders come back and ask to sit. After the chair was in place, walking the front nine commenced. “The front nine is way hillier than I thought it would be! It’s Wednesday and my calves are still burning.” After making it through the outward 9 he rested around Amen Corner to let the history and grandeur sink in. “Twelve was my favorite hole to watch the groups tee off and then walk over the Hogan Bridge.” He watched a couple groups come through and then proceeded to finish walking the rest of the inward 9.

It’s just you and the golf ball. All your concentration focused on the white, dimpled sphere (perhaps it’s even a Pro V1) awaiting the perfect impact. The impact that feels like nothing at all, yet launches the ball on a majestic flight. You watch triumphantly as it floats through the air and down to meet its destiny. It’s a feeling only a golfer can understand. Sometimes, however, things don’t go quite as planned. The ball, for reasons often enigmatic, has its own ideas. And no amount of begging and pleading can control it. No amount of vitriol aimed at the entire history of golf and everyone and everything having to do with it can save it. The lost golf ball: the bane of any golfer’s existence. New words find their genesis because of it. Insults not heard in years are hurled at it. The profanity-laced tirades it causes are nothing less than the poetry of a tortured soul. But whoever thinks about the ball? Sinking to a watery demise or lost somewhere in the rough. It’s swallowed up by a course with an insatiable appetite. But, no courses are hungrier than these six. They feed on golf balls like sharks on a blood-lust fueled feeding frenzy. We’ve already met the Six Great Kid-Friendly Golf Courses, but you may want to cover their eyes this time.

Bubba Watson has won his second Masters! He beat Jordan Spieth and Jonas Blixt by 3 shots. This is Watson's second win in 3 years! This year was a much smoother win than his 2012 playoff victory over Louis Oosthuizen. He's made it a long way with his Titleist Pro V1x.